Hurricane Maria had a devastating impact on everyone in Puerto Rico and beyond. Every basic necessity was affected by this terrible storm. Included in these necessities were diapers. In fact, necessitates like diapers and feminine products were hit extremely hard. Access before wasn’t always easy, but the storm made it quite difficult for all sorts of different reasons.

Enter Loraine Torres Barreto. Loraine had been studying English to become a teacher when she became pregnant with her third child. When she found out she was pregnant, she put her studies on hold to care for her new child. Her baby was born almost exactly when the storm hit.

“It was really scary,” Loraine said as she described having her baby around the same time as Hurricane Maria hit. The uncertainty of it all, not to mention, being able to provide for her other kids, worried her immensely. But, Loraine made it through and is making it one day at a time thanks in part to Jake’s Diapers.

Loraine stated that not only was she amazed that Jake’s Diapers provided diapers, but that there were diapers and wipes, neatly bagged and organized.

Loraine was so inspired that she helped deliver diapers to distribution centers. The first day she worked with Jake’s Diapers, they drove from 8 am to 11 pm, delivering diapers everywhere. Loraine said the experience has been very inspiring.

She said before Jake’s Diapers, many moms did not change diapers because they didn’t have anything to replace the old diaper with. After Jake’s Diapers had arrived on the scene, moms would cry at the sight of fresh diapers they could keep.

Loraine said it was like someone getting a check for a million dollars—that’s how important these were to these women. Loraine remembered one story in particular where a little boy desperately needed diapers and when she was able to give the diapers to the boy, the mom cried because up to this point they were choosing between diapers and food. And the shock of free diapers was overwhelming.

Loraine said she plans to continue to help with Jake’s Diapers as they need her. Specifically, her goal is to focus on entire towns to distribute.

We always can use more help at Jake’s Diapers. The help we’ve received thus far is amazing and we can’t thank you enough. Donate to the cause here or contact Stephanie at [email protected].